Ships Of The Starfleet Museum

I think that Epsilon IX was referring to in-universe. And I agree that they could have existed alongside with the ship classes of the NX-Project. Perhaps ships of the UESPA were used mostly for defense and exploration prior to the Romulan War, and were used to fill the ranks, while ships developed as offshoots of the NX-Project were used as command ships, or stayed behind in friendly territory for defense. The differences in design could be explained by different manufacturers.

I think it is very much a shame that the executives weren't willing to make references to Masao's designs. I don't think they would have found it much trouble to ask for permission. I think they should have also made a poll so they could find out how much we would be accepting of deviations from what is typical in design for Star Trek vessels. I think that they should have done the opposite of how Gene Roddenberry told Matt Jefferies to design the Enterprise, and instead have her designed based on how it was expected that aerospace design would evolve over the next century and a half.

The more that I look at Masao's designs for early Romulan craft, the more that I appreciate how alien that they look, though I'm kinda when it comes to their weaponry. I mean, not to an extreme, but I'm thinking how inconvenient it might be that all of it is fixed forward.

OTOH, this WAS started with the original Romulan Warbird, and the same thing was done with the ENT-era Warbird. I'm just saying I like how most Earth vessels from that era have turrets and a flexible weapons coverage, with few exceptions (I'm looking at the Torsk in particular; fixed weapons are okay for fighters like the Minotaur, but Cruisers?), and I think that I would have given the Romulan vessels turreted weaponry as well.

Though that is not to say that I'm not open to the idea that Romulan ships have such great maneuverability that they can bring their weapons to bear while skirting aside enemy fire; they have been in space for thousands of years, so it is reasonable to assume that their technology is some of the most advanced in this part of the Milk Way.

All right. I gotta say, I really love pretty much all of Masao's designs from Star Fleet Museum, but I have to say, I always thought the Romulan War Romulan ships looked a little silly. And that's fine, I respect the guy for all the uber-awesome designs he's come up with. And after all, we can't create gold all the time.

Yeah, like I said, they don't look like they would be particularly effective in battle, with all their weaponry being fixed forward, so they must be PRETTY agile. Though in Masao's defense, its been like this from day 1, until the D'deridex class was invented by Probert. Even the ENT warbird didn't have any turreted weaponry.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure that the smaller weapons, which are supposed to be missile launchers, last time I looked, look enough like, well, missile launchers. I was impressed with how you interpreted the missile launchers on the Starfleet vessels, but the missile launchers look more like cannons. Unless the missiles are perhaps launched via accelerator cannons, similar to a modern photon torpedo launcher (I wouldn't put it past the Romulans-they've been around for thousands of years).

JES: These big ships were built to overwhelm static defenses with firepower. They'd march in shoulder to shoulder and keep firing until the defenders stopped firing back. They aren't agile at all. In the words of "Balance of Terror" they were "primitive."

UPDATE...
I finally started to get the textures done. I started out with the usuall panels I always use. But here they are a little too big. I also added a small detail to the three nipple things. Also ignore the numbers, they’re just there to help keep things in order.
Here I resized the panels and added a few more things to break it up and keep it from looking the same as my other ships.
Here I made it so all the new stuff doesn’t stand out so much and I’ve added some grime.
And this is the final look of the new texture.

I think that Epsilon IX was referring to in-universe. And I agree that they could have existed alongside with the ship classes of the NX-Project. Perhaps ships of the UESPA were used mostly for defense and exploration prior to the Romulan War...

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The UESPA craft I would consider to be mass produced, with perhaps the NX-ships being very limited runs--or nonexistant in the TOS timeline. I can see Kelvin coming from them.

The more that I look at Masao's designs for early Romulan craft, the more that I appreciate how alien that they look...they have been in space for thousands of years, so it is reasonable to assume that (Romulan) technology is some of the most advanced in this part of the Milk Way

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I think the ringship motif--starting with the Declaration type art but presented as efficent Vulcan designs look to be what Romulans changed a bit with Cabbage. Not agile but good in a straight line. They might have had trouble with tube type nacelles, which might be thought of as the warp equivalent of tank treads in allowing sharper turns. I think one could make the arguement that a cloaked Cabbage might have dropped off the original Bird of Prey off before its nacelles were fitted out for warp travel--explaining the "simple impulse" line. No warp drive due to fear the technology would be stolen forced the Romulan commander to have limited options--at least that is one in-universe suggestion. If plasma torpedos can be entangled in an enemies warp field when retreating--it might be best to be on the safe side.

OTOH, this WAS started with the original Romulan Warbird, and the same thing was done with the ENT-era Warbird.

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The Capsize class would have been a much better fit. The ENT era warbird looks more like something a refit ST:TMP Enterprise would encounter...Speaking of the Capsize--that would be a good project to see next.

Thanks.
Well not much of an update but I had this sitting around for a few days. I changed the impulse engine. Textured the back of the primary hull and did the best I could getting the shape of the bulby bits right.

UPDATE...
Well I couldn’t decide on what project to work on for this month so I discovered that I hadn’t finished this ship yet. Gives me another excuse to try out unwrapping so I did textures for the forward cannons.
It’s not much but progress is progress.

UPDATE...
The main base textures are done. Now all I have to do is add panels and grime it up. I also still need to do the textures for the missile bay doors and a few other small details.
I added the stand just for fun.

I’m getting close to finished. Have more grime to add and textures for the missile bay doors and then I can pop off some orthos. I may tone down those flares on the impulse engines but I kind of like them the way they are.

I agree that they could have existed alongside with the ship classes of the NX-Project.

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Absolutely. There were only, what, six ships in the entire NX class (if you take literature into consideration)? That's hardly enough for an entire fleet. And since the maximum speed of the other ships - the Delta and Intrepid types - was probably very low, like maybe Warp 2, I don't see how they could have comprised the whole fleet either. I don't see any discontinuity whatsoever in the Museum ships existing alongside the ENT ones.

That being said, I think the Museum ships look really cool (AFAIK, the reason they look the way that they do is that their decks are all facing forward - meaning, 'top' on these ships is actually pointing forward) and I'd love to see what they'd look like onscreen.